THE MUSEUM. 



85 



variety, nesting plentiful!)'. One nest 

 was in a Palmetto and only twenty-two 

 feet from the ground. The Hawk is 

 as noisy here as at the north and its 

 nest can be easily found. I saw a pair 

 of Swallow-tailed Kites sweeping about 

 in the air. The evolutions are remark- 

 ably graceful and yet combining dash 

 and rapidity in their movements. There 

 are any quantity of Bald Eagles in this 

 state and they are pleasing and power- 

 ful flyers. It is difficult to realize how 

 swiftly an Eagle is flying unless one is 

 close by when a dash is made. Sparrow 

 Hawks are not rare and I met with one 

 Duck Hawk. Two Owls, the Florida 

 Barred and Barn Owl are the only ones 

 I have met with as yet. The latter is 

 called the "Monkey-faced" Owl here. 



Of the Woodpeckers I have only met 

 with three on the trip, namely the Ked- 

 bellied, FlickerandPileated.all of which 

 inhabit the Palmetto shrub thickets, 

 however the latter is not as wild as it 

 generally is at the North and I have 

 repeatedly worked quite close without 

 alarming it. 



The Chuck will's widow is common 

 here and tunes up generally on its arrival 

 from further South about the middle of 

 March. It is called the Whip-poor-will 

 by all settlers who have moved here 

 from the North. The notes certainly 

 do have the same kind of a piercing 

 chuckle to them, yet to an educated 

 ear the difference is marked. 



Our common Pewee is here, also the 

 Grow aud Blue Jay, though the two 

 latter are now acknowledged to be va- 

 rieties. There is also the P'lorida Jay, 

 which is commonly known here as the 

 "Scrub Jay" from its preference for 

 thickets. 



There are many Crackles here; and 

 reasoning that a bird should become a 

 variety when its notes are different 

 from another species or race, then the 

 Florida Crackle certainly is entitled to 

 distinction. I'or the queer notes 

 of this Blackbird are entirely different 

 from the Bronzed Crackle's efforts. 



This letter is already too long and 



with remarks on a few well-known spe- 

 cies I will close. 



The Carolina Wren is a pleasing bird. 

 It sings plaintively and in a variety of 

 strains, and its notes can be compared 

 with those of the Kobin. The \'ellow- 

 rumped Warblers and Cardinals are 

 ubiquitious here in winter, and with 

 the Mockingbirds are the life of the 

 glades. There are White-bellied Swal- 

 lows in myraids. Among the Warblers 

 are the Chestnut-sided, Yellow-throat- 

 ed, Prairie and Oven-bird. 



Perhaps this letter will fail to please 

 many of jour readers as it does not re- 

 cord the taking of many specimens but 

 it must be remembered that the sea- 

 son has really not opened fairly. Very 

 few species besides the Herons, Peli- 

 cans and other water birds, and Hawks 

 have begun to nest at the time this is 

 written. 



There is a pleasure in sailing about, 

 even if one cannot take many rare eggs. 

 I shall always remember my trips on 

 the Indian, Sebastian and Loxaeatchie 

 ri\ers, and the connecting lagoons as 

 the most agreeable days spent iq Flor- 

 ida among the birds. 



I would like to describe our boat and 

 how we sail, fish, eat and sleep, and a 

 hundred features of a cruise, but this 

 will be postponed. 



A SUBSCIBEK. 



Reminiscences. 



The afternoon being a showery one, 

 precluding all possibility of my spend- 

 ing it pleasantly out-of-doors in quest 

 natural history specimens, I have shut 

 myself up in my den and for an hour 

 past have been engaged in the re- per- 

 usal of some back volumes of journals 

 of nature. 



In \'ol. Ill, No. 5 of this magazine 

 I am confronted on pages 76-7 by an 

 article emanating from this pencil un- 

 der the caption, "Condition of Ar- 

 cheology in Mexico." I have re-read 

 this rather vituperative ebullition of 

 pent up wrath and I am convinced 

 that the consummine anger engender- 



